You Can Still Fly To Cuba
The number of Americans traveling to Cuba greatly increased after President Obama and President Raul Castro shook hands, with everyone feeling that it was time to end the unsuccessful “cold war” between the two countries. Unfortunately, this progress was stopped once President Trump announced new travel restrictions to Cuba in 2017. He did it again in June of 2019 by pulling the “people-to-people” license used by cruise ships for travel to Cuba.
Unfortunately, this action caused an enormous misunderstanding among all Americans, with virtually everyone in the United States incorrectly feeling that Trump was not letting any American travel to Cuba.
The truth of the matter is that as much as Trump wants to appear as the big man with the big stick, Americans can still fly to Cuba. Right Now. They just can’t go on a cruise ship.
For an entire month, we approached as many people in the U.S. as possible to let them know that they could still fly to Cuba. The result of this effort showed that literally 100% of the Americans approached said the exact same thing: “I thought you couldn’t go to Cuba now”.
But that’s not true. Americans can still travel to Cuba. All you need to do is:
- have a valid passport (this process is very easy and quick (https://www.usps.com/international/passports.htm);
- book your flight online or through the phone (American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, Jet Blue) just as you would any domestic flight;
- choose as your travel reason: support the Cuban people; and
- when you get your tickets at the airport counter, pay for your Visa ($50-100).
Americans cannot be prohibited from traveling to a country that is not a terrorist threat and has no crime. (Yep, there’s virtually no crime in Cuba and Cuba is not on any terrorist list.)
But you do need to support the Cuban people’s effort to become independent from the Cuban government. That means that in order for you to comply with the “support the Cuban people” category for travel to Cuba, you should only use:
- AirBnb stays (https://www.airbnb.com/s/havana/all?refinement_paths%5B%5D=%2Ffor_you&search_type=search_query&place_id=ChIJ4QD2vUx3zYgRYA13Gn5NKU4 );
- Privately owned family restaurants (paladares); and
- Privately owned taxis.
And that’s it. It’s that simple. That’s what these White House speeches did not tell you.
